Law and reality in publishing (seldom the same thing) from the author's side of the slush pile, with occasional forays into military affairs, censorship and the First Amendment, legal theory, and anything else that strikes me as interesting.

A fascinating decision from the Supreme Court this morning holds that bringing a drug dog up to the front door is a search that requires a warrant(PDF). There are several interesting aspects of this opinion — such as the 5-judge, pro-defendant majority of Justices Scalia (wrote the opinion), Thomas, Ginsburg, Kagan, and Sotomayór — but they're just surface amusement. The beneath-the-surface interest is in the rationales for the various positions. The majority was a property-rights basis; Justice Kagan, for herself and Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayór, agreed and said she'd have been perfectly happy on a Katz/expectation of privacy basis; and the dissenters... allowed an inexperienced clerk to draft their opinion (I hope). The key point is that Justice Kagan's concurring opinion points toward reinvigorating the privacy issues involved in any other kind of search involving "enhanced tools" like drug dogs... or, one might hope, database-mining searches of electronic communications, as I suggested a couple of decades ago.

Dean Wesley Smith grumps — not gripes, grumps — about doing corporate taxes as a small publisher. Gee, I wonder if any of the scam publishers out there ever did this? More to the point, whether they ever got competent tax advisors (CPAs and/or lawyers) to sign off on it?

The UK is going farther along the "let's prevent orphan works" path than the US has been willing to even discuss, with a new partially funded "copyright hub" to make finding holders easier. Of course, the UK is not crippled by the insanity of the US's we-call-it-registration-but-it's-registration-in-name-only copyright system, so the copyright hub actually has a chance to work! And meanwhile, in a coda to Kirtsaeng, Scottish courts have further trampled on territorial rights; with Rangers mired in Division 3 (thanks to financial shenanigans more than poor play), though, I'm really not sure it's going to make much of a difference for a couple of years.

The Fine Print

Ritual disclaimer: This blog contains legal commentary, but it is only general commentary. It does not constitute legal advice for your situation. It does not create an attorney-client relationship or any other expectation of confidentiality, nor is it an offer of representation.

I approve of no advertising appearing on or through syndication for anything other than the syndication itself; any such advertising violates the limited reuse license implied by voluntarily including syndication code on this blawg, and I do not approve aggregators and syndicators whose page design reflects only an intent to use the reference(s) to this blawg without actually providing the content from this blawg.

Internet link sausages, as frequently appear here, are gathered from uninspected meaty internet products and byproducts via processes you really, really don't want to observe; spiced with my own secret, snarky, sarcastic blend; quite possibly extended with sawdust or other indigestibles; and stuffed into your monitor (instead of either real or artificial casings). They're sort of like "link salad" or "pot pourri" or "miscellaneous musings" (or, for that matter, "making law"), but far more disturbing.

I am not responsible for any changes to your lipid counts or blood pressure from consuming these sausages... nor for your monitor if you insist on covering them with mash or sauce.

Blog Archive

Warped Weft

Now live at the new site. I have arranged some of the more infamous threads that have appeared here by unravelling them from the blawg tapestry (and hopefully eliminating some of the sillier typos). Sometimes, the threads have been slightly reordered for clarity.

Other Blawgs, Blogs, and Journals

These may be of interest; I do not necessarily agree with opinions expressed in them, although the reasoning and writing are almost always first-rate (and represent a standard seldom, if ever, achieved in "mainstream" journalism). I'm picky, and have eclectic tastes, so don't expect a comprehensive listing.

How Appealing is aimed at appellate lawyers and legal news in general. If you care about the state of the law, start here — Howard's commentary is far better balanced, better informed, and better considered than any of the media outlets. To concentrate on the US Supreme Court, don't forget SCOTUSBlog.

Some academics' blawgs with a variety of political (and doctrinal) viewpoints:

The main European IP blawg of interest remains the UK-based IPKat, on a variety of intellectual property issues, with some overlap (with a less Eurocentric view) at IPFinance

The American Constitution Society blawg is a purportedly "liberal" counterweight to the so-called "Federalist Society" (which, despite its claims, should be called "Tory Society") that has yet to establish much coherence... but maybe that's all to the good.

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